Brick-kiln



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1,

J. M. SHUGK & T. E. MARTIN.

' BRICK KILN.

No. 516,615. Patented Mar. 13, 1894,

- mwan I ('No Model.) 3 Sheets-Shet 2.

J. M. 'SHUOK & T. E. MARTIN. BRICK KILN.

No. 516,615. Patented Mar. 13, 1894.

Him

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheath.

' J. M. SHUOK 8; T. E. MARTIN.

BRICK KILN.

No. 516,616. Patented Mar. 13, 1894.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN M. SHUOK AND THOMAS E. MARTIN, OF DES MOINES, IOWA.

BRlCK-KILN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 516,615, dated March13, 1894.

Application filed August 29,1892- Serial No. 444,381- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, JOHN M. SHUCK and THOMAS E. MARTIN, citizens of theUnited States of America, residing at Des Moines,in

the county of Polk and State of Iowa, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Brick-Kilns, of which the following isaspecification.

Our object is to facilitate the burning of brick, tile, and otherearthen-ware articles uniformly hard in all parts of a kiln, bydirooting, equalizing and distributing heat downward through the stackor stacks of articles placed in a kiln.

Our invention is a permanent structure and down draft kiln in whichfurnaces and fiues and chimneys are formed, arranged and combined ashereinafter set forth, pointed out in our claims, and illustrated in theaccompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a plan view in which thepositions of the furnaces and flues and chimneys relative to the wallsare shown. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical sectional view looking towardthe end of the kiln from the point indicated by the dotted line 22 inFig. 1 and Fig. 3 is a corresponding view. through the line 33 inFig. 1. Fig. 4 is a perspective View of the complete kiln.

The walls are practically double and the inner parts made of fire brickand the outer parts connected by means of an arched roof. The kiln shownis quadrangular in shape but the form and size may vary.

A represents the outside portion of the Wall made of common burnedbrick. A represents the inner wall made of fire brick and adapted inmaterial and. construction to be subjected to the high degree of heatrequired to dry and burn green brick stacked-in the kiln.

A is the arched roof connected with and supported by the vertical wallsA and chimneys A that are integral portions of the complete wall andkiln.

B are furnaces integral with the walls and at points intermediatebetween the chimneys and extending outward from the parallel parts A andA of the double portions of the complete wall immediately above thesurface of the ground. These furnaces are uniform in construction andmay vary in dimensions and numbers to suit kilns of different sizes.Each furnace is composed of parallel side walls B a front wall B and anarched roof as a means to protect the rear end of the grate from burningout by allowing air to surround the grate. These fire pots are producedby simply forming vacant spaces in the wall A that extendhorizontallybetween the side walls B and vertically from a plane belowthe grate B to a plane that is central relative to the grate and thearched roof B of the furnace. The portion 0 of the wall A thus producedover the fire pot serves as a deflector in directing the products ofcombustion rising to the roof of the furnace downward and immediatelyover the fuel in the fire pot in its passage rearward to the vacantspace between the outer wall A and the inner wall A Air admitted to thefuel on the gratethrough the doorwayin the frontwall above the grate andfrom the ash pit under the grate is mingled with the products ofcombustion rising from the fuel on the grate and aids combustion and theoxygenated gas thus produced and drawnover the fuel in the fire potproduces perfect combustion and a white heat and prevents black smokeand soot from escaping rearward from the fire pot while all particles ofcarbon liberated from the fuel are 9c consumed and utilized in producingheat that ascends through the vacant spaces between the walls A and A Toaid in supporting the top portions of the inner walls A fire bricks Dare fixed in the parallel walls A and A so as to project toward eachother as required to let their free ends engage each other. Thesesupports may vary in number and are located at different points ofelevation as shown in Fig. 2.

. D shown in Fig.1, represents crevices that IOC extend transverselythrough the inner wall A from its lower portion to its top. Thesecrevices are produced by laying the fire brick in the wall in such amanner that in their nor- It has a closed bot- 6o mal condition'theywill not come together but leave an open vacant space between theirparallel surfaces that will allow the brick and wall to expand whenheated without cracking and producing irregular fissures. Correspondingcrevices D are produced in the same manner between the side walls androof of the furnaces B and their front and rear walls as shown in Fig.2, and also through the side walls and arched roof of the kiln asindicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2 and solid lines D on the outside ofthe arched roof A as shown in Fig. 4. To prevent the escape of heatthrough these crevices D and D that extend from the interior to theexterior of the walls brick are placed over them to close them withoutbinding the parts of the walls on opposite sides of the crevicestogether and and so as not to interfere with the contraction andexpansion to which the walls are subjected in burning brick within thekiln.

F are flues in the bottom of the kiln, preferably below the surface ofthe ground upon which the kiln is located, extended inward from thechimneys A with which they communicate. They have openings F at theirinner ends and a plurality ofopenings F in their sides, as shown in Fig.3. These openings F vary in size and are graduated from the center ofthe kiln toward the sides in such a manner that the largest openings aremost distant from the chimneys but will, on account of their size, causeas strong a draft upon the products of combustion coming from thefurnaces as do the smaller openings nearer the chimneys and thus aid inthe uniform distribution of heat throughout the kiln as required to burnall the brick within the kiln uniformly hard. Flues extendat rightangles to and over the fines F. These fines are produced bypermanentpartitions, H, made of tire brick and adapted to serve as supports forapermanent floorJ consisting of fire brick placed on top of thepartitions, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, in such a manner as to allowgreen brick to be stacked thereon. Interstices between the bricks thatcompose the door J allow the products of combustion that circulatedownward through the stacks of brick placed thereon to pass down throughthe floor into the fines H and from thence into the fines F through theopenings F and F and then into the chimneys. The floor J is preferablyinclined slightly from the side walls toward the center, as shown inFig.2, in such a manner that when a stack of green brick is placedthereon it will not spread outward but the tendency of the pressure willbe inward toward the center as required to keep the stack fromcollapsing or any portions thereof pressing against the inner walls A ofthe kiln.

K are T-irons, partly embedded in the outer portion of the wall A, whenthe wall is built, to aid in bracing and strengthening the 0on1- pletestructure.

To further reinforce the walls, as required to prevent the kiln fromspreading and breaking when subjected to intense heat, trusses L areplaced in vertical positions against the outsides of the walls andconnected at their top ends, by means of rods L in such a manner thatthey can be adjusted and drawn firmly against the walls by means of turnbuckles L Their lower ends extend in the ground. Each end of the kilnhas a passage way through which a person can pass in and out of the kilnas required to stack green brick therein and remove them therefrom, whenburned, while the kiln remains permanent and intact.

In each chimney a sliding damper N is placed, as shown in Fig. 3, bymeans of which the drafts of the furnaces aid in the complete kiln, inconnection with the doors in the front walls of the furnaces, can bereadily regulated as required to maintain a uniform heat within thekiln. 1

Openings N in the end walls are provided for ventilating the kiln whenpersons are working within the kiln and to facilitate coo1- ing thebrick when burned.

In the practical operation of our invention green brick, or otherearthenware articles, are stacked upon the floor J in such a manner thatthere will be interstices in every direction through the stack to allowthe circulation of air and heat throughout the entire stack so that eachparticular brick or article will be subjected to heat when fires aremaintained in the furnaces.

When the kiln is filled the open passage ways at the ends are closed bymeans of temporary walls, and fires are started and maintained in allthe furnaces. The line of draft of each furnace will be first upwardover the inner wall A and into the top portion of the kiln and thendownwardly through the interstices of the stack of articles that are tobe dried and burned and from thence through the floor J and into thefines that extendlongitudinally under the floor and from said fines intothe fines thereunder that extend at right angles thereto and have directcommunication with the chimneys.

The chimneys A beinglocated at equal distances apart and midway betweenthe furnaces B and each chimney connected with the longitudinal centralfine, by means of the horizontal flues F and openings F in their ends,so that the heat dscending through the kiln will be equally divided onthe opposite sides of the continuous longitudinal central flue by thedraft created by means of the said central flue, the horizontal lines Fand the chimneys A To subdivide the two equal quantities of heat thusproduced and distribute them uniformly on the opposite sides of the saidcentral flue, the series of parallel walls H are extended parallel withthe central longitudinal fine and over the horizontal flues F for thepurpose of supporting floor brick J and also for the purpose ofproducing con tinuous flues extending parallel with the central ordividing flue. To establish communication with the horizontal transverseflues F the graduated series of openings 11" are made in each side ofeach flue F and the largest openings nearest the central flue thatextends at right angles to'theinner ends of the flues F. A uniform draftis thus produced throughout the entire kiln to distribute the descendingheat equally throughout the stack of brick placed in the kiln, asrequired to dry and burn all the brick uniformly hard.

It is obvious that in this circuitous pathway of the products ofcombustion rising from all of the furnaces and united underneath theroof of the kiln the heat is diffused throughout the stack of articlesto' be dried and burned, in the downward draft thereof created by therelative positions of the furnaces outside of the parallel walls A and Aand the longitudinal and communicating flues under the permanent floorof the kiln and the chimneys connected therewith at their bottoms, andthat the main portion of the heat generated in the furnaces will beabsorbed by the articles to be burned direct, as it comes from thefurnaces, and that the minor por tion of heat absorbed by the interiorof the walls and roof and floor will be stored therein during theoperation to aid in maintaininga high degree of uniform heat in andaround the stack of brick or other articles that are to be burneduniformly hard.

To remove the burned brick the temporary walls closing the passage waysin the ends of the kiln are taken away and all the other parts retainedin permanent position and ready for another stack of green articles tobe dried and burned.

We claim as our invention- 1. In a brick kiln having vertical lines todischarge heat into the top of a kiln, a horizontal flue in the bottomof the kiln having closed ends, a series of parallel horizontal finesextending at right angles to said central flue and communicatingtherewith at their inner ends and provided with series of graduatedopenings the largest of said openings nearest the center of the kiln,walls extending between and abutting with the said parallel flues andclose enough to each other to support floor brick and the spaces betweenthem brought into communication with the said parallel flues by means ofsaid graduated openings, and chimneys at the outer ends of the parallelfiues, all arranged and combined to operate in the manner set forth forthe purposes stated.

2. In a brick kiln provided with furnaces and fines adapted to dischargeheat into the top of the kiln, two series of horizontal flues in thebottom of the kiln extending from the center in opposite directions tothe walls of the kiln, chimneys at the outer ends of said fines,parallel walls extending between and at right angles to the fines andclose enough to support floor brick on their tops and the spaces betweenthem brought into communication with the fines by means of graduatedopenings in the fines and said openings largest near the center of thekiln, all arranged and combined to operate in the manner set forth forthe purposes stated.

3. In a down draft brick kiln of rectangular form adapted to admit heatat the top portions of two parallel walls, a flue midway between saidwalls composed of "two parallel walls adapted to support floor brick ontheir tops and closed at their ends, horizontal fiues closed on theirtops and extended at right angles in opposite directions from the sidesof said central line and provided with openings in their ends tocommunicate with said central flue and openings in their sides graduaated in size and the largest openings nearest the central flue, andchimneys at the outer open ends of said transverse horizontal flues, tooperate in the manner set forth for the purposes stated.

4:. In a down draft brick kiln, parallel walls having furnaces on theiroutsides and flues connected therewith to discharge the products ofcombustion into the top portion of the kiln, chimneys midway between thefurnaces, flues in the bottom extending inward from the chimneys andprovided with openings in their ends and also with graduated series ofopenings in their sides, the largest opening being nearest their innerends, and their tops closed, a series of parallel walls adapted tosupport floor brick extended at right angles to said flues and thespaces between said walls adapted to serve as flues communicating withthe said horizontal flues havings openings in their ends and sides, allarranged and combined to operate in the manner set forth for thepurposes stated. 1

JOHN M. SHUOK, THOMAS E. MARTIN. Witnesses:

J. RALPH ORWIG, THOMAS G. ORWIG.

ICC

